John 4:1-30 (The Message)
1Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed2(although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people.3So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.4To get there, he had to pass through Samaria.5He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph.6Jacob's well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.7A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?"8(His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)9The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)10Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water."11The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'?12Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?"13Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again.14Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst - not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."15The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!"16He said, "Go call your husband and then come back."17"I have no husband," she said.18You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."19"Oh, so you're a prophet!20Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"21"Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem.22You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews.23But the time is coming - it has, in fact, come - when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.24God is sheer being itself - Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."25The woman said, "I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story."26"I am he," said Jesus. "You don't have to wait any longer or look any further."27Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.28The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people,29"Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?"30And they went out to see for themselves.
